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Friday, March 2, 2001
’Bows road-acious SAN JOSE, Calif. -- They finally won one away from home, but the road is just beginning for the University of Hawaii men's basketball team.
Hawaii finds the way to beat
San Jose State for its first win
away from home this seasonStaff & wire reports
Predrag Savovic scored 29 points to lead UH past San Jose State, 71-61, before 1,041 at The Event Center last night.
Tomorrow, the Rainbows conclude their WAC regular season when they visit the Miners of Texas-El Paso -- the only conference team UH lost to at home.
Then it's off to the WAC Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., next week.
"We'll practice in El Paso (today) and they're getting back late (from Texas Christian, where UTEP lost last night)," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "That might help even it up a little for us."
If Hawaii (14-12, 8-7 WAC) can beat UTEP (20-7, 9-6), it will find itself in at least a two-way tie for third place in the final regular-season standings. That's quite a leap for the Rainbows, who not long ago were trying to keep themselves out of the conference basement.
When UTEP beat UH, 79-71, in Honolulu on Jan. 11, Hawaii was without post players Troy Ostler (injury) and Haim Shimonovich (eligibility).
"This is the first time the team is really healthy and ready to go out there," Wallace said.
Last night's victory over the Spartans was the fourth consecutive win for the Rainbows.
But Wallace is only allowing himself to say his team is on a roll now because the other three victories were at home. After over a year of futility, his team has finally found victory at an opponent's homecourt.
UH came into the game 0-7 away from the Stan Sheriff Center this season. Hawaii was 1-23 on the road, dating back to the 1998-99 season.
"This team has really, really come together," Wallace said. "They did it in a team way."
With Savovic scoring 12 points, the Rainbows led 30-27 at halftime.
But the Spartans battled back behind the scoring of Cory Powell and Darnell Williams, who both finished with 19 points.
San Jose State led 46-42 when Hawaii used a timeout with 9:52 left.
Savovic immediately hit a layup. Then, after an offensive foul by Williams, Carl English, who scored a career-high 15 points, converted a three-point play to make it 47-46, Hawaii.
After that, the Rainbows never relinquished the lead. They scored 10 of the last 13 points to close it out.
Hawaii continued to run its flex offense effectively. The Rainbows shot 47.3 percent for the game, and they assisted on 20-of-26 baskets, while making only 13 turnovers.
San Jose State shot 54.2 percent, but turned it over 21 times.
Wallace credited team psychologists Judy Daniels and Michael D'Andrea with putting together a plan that helped the Rainbows stay focused, avoiding distractions and energy-sapping activities that can hurt teams on the road.
Wallace said little things like not sleeping on the plane, drinking water instead of caffeine and group meditation have helped so far.
"They did all the mental part away from the basketball," Wallace said. "The commitment is there to do the same thing the rest of the way."
Hawaii 71, San Jose State 61
Rainbows (14-12, 8-7 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 3 5 0 0 20 2 1 6 Puida 2 6 2 2 36 6 5 7 Ostler 4 11 1 1 29 3 2 9 Savovic 10 19 6 6 40 4 3 29 McIntyre 1 5 0 0 17 1 2 2 Shimonovich 0 0 1 2 21 1 2 1 Burneika 0 0 2 2 7 2 1 2 English 6 9 3 3 27 4 3 15 Fields 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 26 55 15 16 200 26 20 71
Spartans (14-13, 6-10 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Powell 9 11 0 0 33 7 0 19 Williams 9 14 1 3 38 5 2 19 Granucci 0 0 0 0 19 3 2 0 Landram 5 13 1 1 40 3 3 12 Sonnenberg 0 2 0 0 9 0 1 0 Okunrinboye 1 4 0 0 28 1 3 3 Valentine 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Thurmond 2 4 4 4 30 3 2 8 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 26 48 6 8 200 24 13 61 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime-Hawaii 30, San Jose State 27.
3-point goals--UH 4-15 (Savovic 3-9, Puida 1-3, English 0-1, McIntyre 0-2); SJSU 3-9 (Powell 1-1, Okunrinboye 1-3, Landram 1-4, Sonnenberg 0-1). Personal fouls--UH 16, SJSU 15. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--UH 6 (Puida 4, Martin, Savovic), SJSU 3 (Williams, Landram, Okunrinboye). Blocked shots--UH 2 (Puida, Shimonovich), SJSU 1 (Granucci). Turnovers--UH 13 (Ostler 4, Puida 2, Savovic 2, Martin, McIntyre, Shimonovich, Burneika, Fields), SJSU 21 (Williams 5, Okunrinboye 4, Powell 3, Granucci 3, Landram 2, Sonnenberg 2, Valentine, Thurmond). Officials--Kennedy, Shortnacy, Stevens. A-1,041.
WAC men standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Fresno St. 12 3 .800 23 5 .821 Tulsa 10 5 .667 19 9 .679 UTEP 9 6 .600 20 7 .741 TCU 8 7 .533 19 10 .655 SMU 8 7 .533 18 10 .643 Hawaii 8 7 .533 14 12 .538 San Jose St. 6 10 .375 14 13 .519 Rice 5 10 .333 13 14 .481 Nevada 2 13 .133 9 17 .346
UH Athletics
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